Novel polyester polyols and mixtures made therefrom

ABSTRACT

The present invention is directed to a polyester polyol having an hydroxyl number of from about 25 to about 130 and an acid number of 2 or less, produced by reacting 
     (a) from about 40 to about 60 parts by weight of adipic acid, 
     (b) from about 1 to about 20 parts by weight of ethylene glycol, 
     (c) from about 1 to about 30 parts by weight of 1,4-butanediol, and 
     (d) from about 5 to 50 parts by weight of a polyoxyethylene glycol having a molecular weight of from 106 to 680, 
     the total parts of (a), (b), (c) and (d) being 100, and to a blend of such polyester polyol with 1,4-butanediol and/or ethylene glycol.

This application is a division of application Ser. No. 520,665 filed Aug. 5, 1983 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,525,575.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Polyol systems, which are to be reacted with polyisocyanates, are known for use in the manufacture of shoe soles. Typical of such systems are blends of polyester polyols and 1,4-butanediol. One commercially available polyester polyol has an hydroxyl number of about 54 and is produced from adipic acid, butanediol and ethylene glycol. When blended with butanediol in a weight ratio of 86:14, the resultant blend has a cloud point of about 72° C. Thus, one problem with the abovenoted systems is that the polyol blend is not a single phase mixture unless it is heated to at least the cloud point.

The cloud point is the temperature at which a haze or cloudiness develops in the polyol blend when the blend is slowly cooled with stirring from a temperature sufficiently high to make the mixture a single phase. It is an object of this invention to develop a polyester polyol which when combined with butanediol or ethylene glycol will exhibit significantly lower cloud points than has been achieved with polyester polyols based on adipic acid, butanediol and ethylene glycol.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a novel polyester polyol having an hydroxyl number of from about 25 to about 130 and preferably from about 35 to about 65 and an acid number of 2 or less and preferably 1 or less, prepared by reacting:

(a) from about 40 to about 60 parts by weight of adipic acid,

(b) from about 1 to about 20 parts by weight of ethylene glycol,

(c) from about 1 to about 30 parts by weight of 1,4-butanediol, and

(d) from about 5 to about 50 parts by weight of a polyoxyethylene glycol having a molecular weight of from 106 to 680,

the total parts by weight of (a), (b), (c) and (d) being 100.

Furthermore, the present invention is directed to a blend of the above-identified polyester polyol and either 1,4-butanediol and/or ethylene glycol in a weight ratio of from 16:1 to 7:3, preferably from 9:1 to 7:3, and more preferably from 9:1 to 8:2. 1,4-butanediol is presently preferred.

The polyoxyethylene glycols useful herein will generally be of the formula:

    HO--C.sub.2 H.sub.4 O).sub.n H,

where n is at least 2 and can be as high as about 15. Such glycols will have molecular weights of from 106 to about 680. Preferred are polyoxyethylene glycols having molecular weights of about 200.

If desired, small amounts (typically from 0.05 to 1 part) of low molecular weight diols (such as tripropylene glycol) and triols (such as trimethylol propane) can also be used in preparing the polyesters herein.

The polyesters of the present invention are made according to known techniques. Typically, the components are reacted at temperatures ranging from 150° to 250° C. and are held at these temperatures for a time sufficient to drop the acid number to 2 or less and preferably to 1 or less. Typically, this time will range from 12 hours to 36 hours. If desired, known esterification catalysts, such as tetrabutyltitanate can be used. The resultant polyols which should have hydroxyl numbers of from about 25 to about 130, and preferably from about 35 to about 65 and an acid number of less than 2 and preferably less than 1, can then be blended with 1,4-butanediol, and/or ethylene glycol, and can then be used for the production of polyurethanes.

The invention is further illustrated but is not intended to be limited by the following examples in which all parts and percentages are by weight unless otherwise specified.

EXAMPLES Examples 1 through 8

The components noted in Table 1 were mixed and reacted to form polyester polyols having the hydroxyl numbers and acid numbers noted. The procedure followed in each instance was identical. All of the hydroxy functional materials were first charged to a reactor equipped with a mechanical agitator, a distillation column, and condenser. The resultant mixture was then heated to 110° C. at which point the adipic acid was added. Air was then removed by successive evacuations and pressurizations with dry nitrogen gas. The mixture, while protected from the atmosphere with a nitrogen pad, was then heated to about 250° C. During the heating process, when the temperature reached about 145° C., water began to distill from the reaction mixture. After the mixture reached 205° C. and the distillation subsided, the pressure in the reactor was reduced to about 1 mm Hg. The reaction mass was held under these conditions until the acid number dropped to the level noted in Table 1. The viscosity and physical form were measured, with the results shown in Table 1. Blends were then prepared by blending 14 parts of 1,4-butanediol with 86 parts of each polyester. Cloud points were then measured, with the results as set forth in Table 1. Example 1 is a comparative example.

                                      TABLE 1*                                     __________________________________________________________________________                                      Viscosity                                                                           Physical                                                                  @ 73° C.                                                                     Form Cloud Point                         Example                                                                             AA XB XE OE TMP                                                                               OEMW OH# Acid#                                                                              mPa · s                                                                    @ 25° C.                                                                     °C.                          __________________________________________________________________________     1    61.7                                                                              22.7                                                                              15.6                                                                              -- -- --   54  0.7  625 Solid                                                                               72° C.                       2    60.6                                                                              6.6                                                                               19.8                                                                              13.0                                                                              -- 200  55  0.92                                                                               1080 Solid                                                                               70° C.                       3    59.4                                                                              13.4                                                                              13.5                                                                              13.5                                                                              0.2                                                                               200  37  0.90                                                                               1600 Liquid                                                                              70° C.                       4    58.3                                                                              13.9                                                                              13.9                                                                              13.9                                                                              -- 200  41  0.94                                                                               1600 Liquid                                                                              70° C.                       5    56.6                                                                              21.8                                                                              7.3                                                                               14.3                                                                              -- 200  60  0.71                                                                                820 Solid                                                                               59° C.                       6    52.0                                                                              27.7                                                                              1.9                                                                               18.4                                                                              -- 200  57  0.27                                                                                563 Solid                                                                               52° C.                       7    47.2                                                                              6.2                                                                               4.4                                                                               42.0                                                                              0.2                                                                               200  42  1.35                                                                               1051 Liquid                                                                              51° C.                       8    44.5                                                                              3.9                                                                               2.8                                                                               48.5                                                                              0.2                                                                               200  39  0.20                                                                                975 Liquid                                                                              50° C.                       __________________________________________________________________________      *Explanation  The following abbreviations were used:                           AA = parts by weight adipic acid                                               XB = parts by weight 1,4butanediol                                             XE = parts by weight ethylene glycol                                           OE = parts by weight polyoxyethylene glycol                                    TMP = parts by weight trimethylol propane                                      OEMW = molecular weight of the polyoxyethylene glycol                          OH# = hydroxyl number, mg/KOH/g                                                Acid# = acid number, mg/KOH/g                                            

Although the invention has been described in detail in the foregoing for the purpose of illustration, it is to be understood that such detail is solely for that purpose and that variations can be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention except as it may be limited by the claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A blend comprising(a) a member selected from the group consisting of 1,4-butanediol, ethylene glycol, and mixtures thereof, and (b) a polyester polyol having an hydroxyl number of from about 25 to about 130 and an acid number of 2 or less produced by reacting(i) from about 40 to about 60 parts by weight of adipic acid, (ii) from about 1 to about 20 parts by weight of ethylene glycol, (iii) from about 1 to about 30 parts by weight of 1,4-butanediol, and (iv) from about 5 to about 50 parts by weight of a polyoxyethylene glycol having a molecular weight of from 106 to 680,the total parts of (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv) being 100, the weight ratio of component (b) to component (a) being from 16:1 to 7:3.
 2. The blend of claim 1 wherein said weight ratio is from 9:1 to 7:3.
 3. The blend of claim 2 wherein said weight ratio is from 9:1 to 8:2.
 4. The blend of claim 1 wherein said polyester polyol has an hydroxyl number of from about 35 to about
 65. 5. The blend of claim 4, wherein component (a) is 1,4-butanediol. 